Reports recently surfaced about a police chief and police officer in East Texas being fired for an affiliation with their local Tea Party group, and the whole thing has caused quite the uproar in the tiny town.

"Our phone has certainly been ringing off the hook," Cloy Richards, a city administrator for the town of West Tawakoni, tells Hair Balls. "Any small-town termination is always closely followed, because everyone knows everyone, and it's considered personal. It has certainly been interesting."

Of course, the thing that makes this interesting to us, and a national news audience, is that the Tea Party, despite numerous warnings from the group, is being tread on.

The officers were also disciplined, according to Dallas's local NBC station, for lying to federal agents during an investigation, drinking booze at a public park and restaurant, driving while intoxicated, slouching at city council meetings, and, in the case of one officer, hosting naked pool parties at his house.

Forget all that, though, because the Tea Party is obviously the reason these cops were targeted. (Richards told us that West Tawakoni has restrictions on certain political activities.) And that got us wondering if any local officials support Tea Party groups.

The answer is yes, yes they do.

At a King Street Patriots meeting last week, two Harris County criminal court judges -- Susan Brown of the 185th and Marc Brown of the 180th -- stood up and addressed the standing-room-only crowd at King Street's headquarters in northwest Houston.

The Browns (married) didn't issue any long-winded rants about problems with local government, which the officers in West Tawakoni apparently did, or say much of anything. The judges simply told the crowd they appreciate what the King Street Patriots are doing. (We left messages for both judges but haven't heard anything back.)

We're not suggesting a judge's Tea Party affiliation is anything wrong, we're just putting it out there.

So if you don't agree with the Tea Party, or if the group causes you to see red, do your best to stay clear of the 180th and 185th criminal courts.